Casa LomaCasa Loma (Spanish for Hill House) is a
Gothic RevivalGothic Revival style house and
gardens in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a museum and
landmark. It was built as a residence for financier [[Henry
PellattSir Henry Mill Pellatt
Casa LomaCasa Loma was constructed from 1911 to
1914. The architect was E. J. Lennox,[1] who designed several
other city landmarks.
Casa LomaCasa Loma sits at an elevation of 140 metres
(460 ft) above sea level.[2]
Due to its unique architectural character in Toronto,
Casa LomaCasa Loma has
been a popular filming location for movies and television. It is a
popular venue for wedding ceremonies.[3] The historic place can be
rented in the afternoons after the museum closes to the public.

In 1903, financier
Henry PellattHenry Pellatt purchased 25 lots from developers
Kertland and Rolf. Pellatt commissioned architect E. J. Lennox to
design
Casa LomaCasa Loma with construction beginning in 1911, starting with
the massive stables, potting shed and Hunting Lodge (a.k.a.
coach-house) a few hundred feet north of the main building. The
Hunting Lodge is a two-storey 4,380-square-foot (407 m2) house
with servants' quarters. As soon as the stable complex was completed,
Sir Henry sold his summer house in Scarborough to his son and moved to
the Hunting Lodge. The stables were used as a construction site for
the castle (and also served as the quarters for the male servants),
with some of the machinery still remaining in the rooms under the
stables.[citation needed]
The house cost about $3.5 million and took 300 workers three years to
build. Due to the start of World War I, construction was halted. At 98
rooms covering 64,700 square feet (6,011 m2), it was the largest
private residence in Canada.[4] Notable amenities included an
elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages
for pipe organs, a central vacuum, two secret passages in Pellatt's
ground-floor office, a pool, and three bowling alleys in the basement
(the last two were never completed).
Most of the third floor was left unfinished, and today serves as the
Regimental
MuseumMuseum for The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. Pellatt joined
the Regiment as a
RiflemanRifleman and rose through the ranks to become the
Commanding Officer. He was knighted for his dedication to the
Regiment. Pellatt later served as the Honorary Colonel and was
promoted to Major-General upon retirement.
During the depression that followed the war, the City of Toronto
increased Casa Loma's property taxes from $600 per year to $1,000 a
month, and Pellatt, already experiencing financial difficulties,
auctioned off $1.5 million in art and $250,000 in furnishings. Pellatt
was able to enjoy life in the castle for less than ten years, leaving
in 1923.
In the late 1920s, investors operated
Casa LomaCasa Loma for a short time as a
luxury hotel. During Prohibition it became a popular nightspot for
wealthy Americans. The Orange Blossoms, later known as
Glen GrayGlen Gray and
the
Casa LomaCasa Loma Orchestra, played there for eight months in 1927–1928.
Shortly thereafter, they went on a tour of North America and became a
major swing era dance band.
The city seized
Casa LomaCasa Loma in 1924 for unpaid taxes, and for years the
building was left vacant.[5] In the 1930s,
CFRBCFRB broadcaster Claire
Wallace spent a night at
Casa LomaCasa Loma to gather material for a story
about ghosts and supernatural phenomena, and she later broadcast an
appeal to save the old building from demolition.[6] Her broadcast was
heard by the vice-president of a local Kiwanis Club,[6] and
subsequently
Casa LomaCasa Loma was leased in 1937 by the
Kiwanis ClubKiwanis Club of West
Toronto, later the
Kiwanis ClubKiwanis Club of
Casa LomaCasa Loma (KCCL), which began
operating the castle under a sole-source contract as a tourist
destination.[5]

During World War II, the stables were used to conceal research and
production of sonar, and for construction of sonar devices (known as
ASDIC) for
U-boatU-boat detection, according to a book about the "castle".
The area was closed, behind an "Under Repairs" sign. The suggestion
that the stables were under renovation allowed workers of the secret
facility to come and go without suspicion.[7]
Casa LomaCasa Loma is often
claimed to be the location of Station M that manufactured covert
devices for agents, claiming that the book Inside Camp X provides this
information.[8] In 2015, however, author Lynn Philip Hodgson rejected
this in an interview with the
TorontoToronto Star. "Nobody knows where
Station M was. You won’t read where it was in any book."[9]
KCCL managed
Casa LomaCasa Loma for 74 years, until 2011. Its tenure was not
without controversy, with Pellatt's great-grandniece Trelawny Howell
starting a campaign for an open tender lease process in 2005,[10] and
the organization disputing her relationship with Pellatt in 2010.[11]
A 2006 advisory committee led by former MPP Ron Kanter, and its
subsequent reports, recommended the city turn the castle's management
over to a new "
Casa LomaCasa Loma Trust";[12] however, a city manager's report
in 2008 recommended extending the city's lease with KCCL for 20 years,
and in July 2008 it was renewed.[5]
Meanwhile, from 1997 until 2012 the castle underwent a 15-year,
$33-million exterior restoration largely funded by the city, which
also created a new board of trustees including seven KCCL members and
seven city appointees in 2008.[5] The city's renewed management
agreement included a stipulation that KCCL would use the castle's net
revenues to help pay for upgrades; however, the organization used the
fund to cover operating shortfalls instead, and there was only
$335,000 in the account by 2011, rather than the $1.5-million
originally projected.[5] As a result, in 2011 the city temporarily
resumed management of Casa Loma, and began welcoming bids from the
private sector in its search for a new operator.[13]
In January 2014 the city entered a new long-term lease and operating
agreement with Liberty Entertainment Group, led by President and CEO
Nick Di Donato, which agreed to spend $7.4 million to continue the
castle's upgrades. The company's plans also included a fine dining
facility. [14] The restaurant, Blueblood Steakhouse, opened in summer
2017. [15]
Layout[edit]

Casa LomaCasa Loma has five acres of gardens. An underground tunnel connects
Casa LomaCasa Loma to the Hunting Lodge and to the stables (garage, potting
shed, stalls, carriage room and tack rooms).
Main floor[edit]

Appointments[edit]
Sir Henry imported artisans from Europe to design much of the
furniture and other features of the castle.
Oak Room[edit]

The Oak Room

The Oak Room (originally called the Napoleon Drawing Room) is the most
decorated room in the house, and was used for formal occasions. It is
encased in wood panels in the style of
Grinling GibbonsGrinling Gibbons which took
three artisans three years to carve. The highly ornamented plaster
ceiling was made by Italian craftsmen, and was enhanced by the use of
indirect lighting in the ceiling. Among other fixtures, the room
featured a 10 feet (3.0 m) high
Louis XVI styleLouis XVI style faux-gilt carved
light standard with 24 bulbs.[16][17][18]

Sir Henry aspired to have members of the Royal Family stay in the
Guest Suite.

The Conservatory showcases plants and, at one end, this
fountain.

Lady Pellatt's Suite.

The Round Room is designed to fit beneath the castle's tower. This
room is notable for its doors and windows, which curve to follow the
shape of the room.

Location[edit]
Casa LomaCasa Loma is on Austin Terrace at Spadina Road, on an escarpment
(Davenport Hill) above Davenport Road. Davenport runs along the bottom
of the escarpment which was the shoreline of Lake Iroquois, the
predecessor of Lake
OntarioOntario (coordinates 43°40′41″N
79°24′33″W﻿ / ﻿43.678°N 79.4093°W﻿ / 43.678; -79.4093).
Casa LomaCasa Loma affords views down the escarpment and Spadina Avenue into
the heart of Toronto. The stables are located at 330 Walmer Road and
the Hunting Lodge at 328 Walmer Road.
Casa LomaCasa Loma is served by St. Clair West Station and Dupont Station on
the Yonge-University line of the
TorontoToronto subway.
Film location[edit]
Casa LomaCasa Loma is a popular location for use in film and television. It has
served as a location for movies such as X-Men, Strange Brew, Chicago,
The Tuxedo,
Scott PilgrimScott Pilgrim vs. the World, Warehouse 13, Descendants,
Twitches Too, and The Pacifier. Comic books and children's novels that
have used it include the
Scott PilgrimScott Pilgrim series and Eric Wilson's murder
mystery, The Lost Treasure of Casa Loma. It was also temporarily
transformed into
HogwartsHogwarts for the release of Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows as well as The Beasts Castle for Disney’s 2017 live
action Beauty and The Beast. In the
CBC TelevisionCBC Television show Being Erica,
the episode "Mi Casa, Su Casa Loma" features
Casa LomaCasa Loma prominently as
the place where main character Erica Strange works.[19]
It also served in the movie adaption of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps (TV
series) A Night In Terror Tower.
Casa LomaCasa Loma also features prominently
in the biography-documentary of Sir Henry Pellatt, The Pellatt
Newsreel: the Man who Built
Casa LomaCasa Loma and was nominated for a 2009
Gemini for Best Biography Documentary].[20] TV show Hemlock Grove was
also filmed there as well as The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and
related Shadowhunters
Exterior shots of the building were used in the Gothic TV Show,
Strange Paradise.[21]
It is also the filming location of the TV movie "re-imagining," The
Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again, where scenes
that take place at Dr. Frank N. Furter's castle and the movie theatre
where the audience participation and Ivy Levan's performance of
Science Fiction Double FeatureScience Fiction Double Feature take place were filmed (a movie theatre
marquee was placed at the front entrance of the castle for
filming).[22]
Girl Guiding[edit]
Lady Pellatt frequently invited the Girl Guides to her home. Their
first visit was in 1913 when 250 girls and their leaders toured the
conservatories and stables, climbed the circular staircase to the top
turret and then were served tea in the Palm Room. In March 1914, Lady
Pellatt watched the Guides' annual fête from her bedroom window as
she was too ill to leave her room.[23] Rallies became an annual event
at the house. Guides also skated on the house's curling rink in
winter. Girl Guiding events have continued in recent years, including
the introduction of a Girl Guide room in 1973, and both the 75th
anniversary and the 100th anniversary celebrations of Guiding in
Canada were held at Casa Loma.[citation needed]
Vintage car exhibition[edit]
As of 2014[update], the garage and carriage room feature an exhibition
of vintage cars from the early 1900s.